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MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 



LIFE AND CHARACTER 



Orris S. Ferry, 

( A SENATOR FROM CONNECTICUT, ) 



DELIVERED IN THE 



Senate and House of Representatives, 



-February 8, 1870. 






PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF CONGRESS. 






FORTY-FOURTH CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION. 
1876. 



PROCEEDINGS 



SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



ANNOUNCEMENT. 



Mr. Eaton. Mr. President, I beg leave to offei the 
following resolutions : 

Resolved, That as a mark of respect to the memory of Orris S. Ferry, late 
Senator from Connecticut, the business of this body be now suspended, that his 
former associates may pay proper tribute to his public and private virtues. 

Resolved, That the Secretary communicate this resolution to the House of 
Representatives. 

The resolutions were unanimously agreed to. 



ADDEE88ES. 



Address op Mr. Eatpn, of Connecticut. 

Mr. President, the Reaper has indeed been busy in 
the Connecticut congressional field. Buckingham, Ferry, 
and Starkweather ! Within the short space of less than 
a year these three gifted men have been gathered to their 
fathers ; three names honored by their native State and 
honoring her. Difficult will it be to fill the places so 
long and so worthily occupied by them. 

The death of a valuable and eminent public servant is 
a loss deeply to be deplored by his immediate constitu- 
ency, and demands at the hands of his former associates 
proper and seemly action. Thus impressed, I submit to 
the Senate the brief remarks which I shall offer on this 
mournful occasion. No fulsome eulogy will be pro- 
nounced by me. It would be alike unworthy of my 
character and the Spartan simplicity which was one of 
the leading characteristics of the late Senator Ferry. 

Orris Sanford Fekky was born in the town of Bethel, 
Fairfield County, State of Connecticut, on the 15th day 
of August, 1823. His father, a respectable inhabitant of 
Bethel, was largely engaged in the manufacture of hats, 



ADDRESS OK MK. EATON ON THE 



and at an early age young Ferey was apprenticed to that 
business. But soon discovering the bent of his mind and 
his aversion to the trade to which he had designed him, 
the father released him from his bonds, giving him such 
educational advantages as enabled him to graduate from 
Yale College in the year 1844. He pursued the study 
of the law under two eminent members of the profession 
in his native county and was admitted to the practice 
of that profession in 1846. 

Mr. Ferry immediately took high rank as a counselor 
and advocate, and at an early age was justly regarded 
as in the front rank of the profession in ( Jonnecticut. 
His wonderful power of analysis and the magnetism of 
his oratory gave him great power with the court and jury, 
and as a platform speaker he had no superior and lew- 
equals in his State. 

Mr. Ferry served in the State senate two sessions. 1855 
and 1856, and exhibited distinguished ability both as a 
legislator and political leader. I was not a member of 
the Connecticut legislature either of the terms that .Mr. 
FERRY occupied his seat ill the senate, but I saw much of 
his course and know the high estimate which was placed 
upon his powers bv the leading men of the State. 

in lx.V.i Mr. Ferry was elected to the other branch of 
the Federal Legislature, and served through the session 
with marked ability. 

Shortly after the commencement of the late terrible 
civil conflict, Mr. Ferry was commissioned bv Governor 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF ORRIS S. FERRY. !l 

Buckingham as colonel of the Fifth Regiment of Con- 
necticut Volunteers, and he remained in the service until 
the close of hostilities. As an officer I understand that 
he was respected by his superiors and beloved by those 
subjected to his command, performing all the duties 
devolved upon him with promptness and fidelity. 

Resuming the practice of his profession in 1865, he was 
jjerhaps at the most successful period of his legal career 
when he was elected to the United States Senate for the 
term commencing March 4, 1867. From that time until 
his death the story of O. S. Ferry is a part of the 
history of this body, and I hesitate not to say that by his 
manly and independent course in the Senate, though 
differing widely upon some matters from many of his 
political friends, he won the respect and high regard of 
all his associates. 

This is not the proper occasion to speak at length upon 
his intellectual efforts upon this floor, so well calculated 
to bring forth his great powers — efforts which placed him 
in the front rank of Senators as a debater and constitu- 
tional lawyer. 

Devotedly attached to the great principles which form 
the base of our system of government, whenever in his 
opinion those principles were menan-ced or endangered, 
even by the action of political friends, the chains of part)' 
allegiance were broken as a strong man rends asunder 
ropes of yarn, and all the energies of his body and mind 
were summoned to the conflict in support of such views 



ADDRESS OF ME. EATON ON THE 



as he believed to be right, just, and for the best interests 
ut' his country. One of the leading and governing traits 
of Mr. Ferry was his love of justice. He was eminently 
a just man. He never put to himself the question, Will 
it be politic to pursue a given course of action? The 
question which he mentally propounded was, Will it be 
just? And, once convinced of the justice of his position, 
he could neither be persuaded nor driven from the ground 
which his calm judgment had pronounced correct. 

As a politician he was above the petty arts and mean- 
nesses which small men use to attain high position. 

His personal integrity was pure and spotless. The 
armorial bearings of the French Bayard might well have 
been claimed by him. Indeed he was truly — 

"Without fear and without reproach." 

I should do injustice to my feelings if I failed to repro- 
duce part of a letter from a distinguished divine, Rev. Dr. 
Childs, of Hartford, Conn. 

Says Dr. Childs : 

It is just ten years since ray acquaintance with General Ferry commenced. 

Letters from him carried me to Norwalk, his place of residence, and resulted 
ultimately in my becoming his pastor. Ho was then in the prime of life, forty- 
two years of age. With a magnificent physical organization, a genial disposi- 
tion, a strong, clear, active mind, earnest, enthusiastic, impetuous, yet cautious, 
wonderfully popular, no man in the State probably had the elements or gave the 
promise of a brighter future. The war was over, and he had returned to the 
2>ractico of his profession, which opened to him all that his ambit ion could ask 
in that direction, and to the enjoyment of his home, which had for him stronger 
attractions than the scents of public life. 

With the movements that placed him in the National Senate I believe he had 
little to do. He was not a political manager. He was an honest man, and 
those who knew him best believed in him most fully. Even his political oppo- 
nents never, as far as I am aware, questioned his perfect integrity. Intensely 
earnest in the cause that ho espoused, he was more than a partisan. As a 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF ORRIS S. FERRY. 11 

national legislator bis views were always broader than his party. Acquainting 
himself thoroughly with the constitutional history of his country, a diligent 
student of the history of other nations, he developed an independent, wise, far- 
seeing statesmanship, which, had he not been arrested by the hand of disease, 
would have placed him — at least ought to have placed him — in the very front 
rank of political leaders. In my judgment there is no office in the gift of the 
people that General Ferry would not have filled with eminent ability. 

Senators, I have done. 

Through my associate and myself, Connecticut mourns 
the loss of one of her most distinguished sons. 

Through you, the representatives of the several States, 
the Federal Union expresses its deep sorrow at the loss 
of a wise, sagacious, and matured statesman, capable of 
lifting himself above the claims and behests of party in 
the discussion and consideration of questions involving 
the very life of the Federal system ; a statesman whose 
profound genius entitles his name to be enrolled among 
the immortal few who knew how to make and keep a 
people ! 



ADDKKSS OF MB. SAEGENT ON THE 



A.DDRESS OF MR. SAEGENT, OP CALIFORNIA. 

Mr. President, on the 27th of February, 1875, Senators 
rose in their places to pay fitting- tributes of respect and 
affection to the memory of a dead Senator of Connecticut, 
whose illustrious public service and private virtues had 
commanded our admiration and love. 

Among those who eloquently spoke on that occasion — 
not yet a year ago — was the Senator whose loss we now 
deplore. He was himself then feeble in frame, and halted 
tremblingly to his seat in this Chamber, the victim of a 
disease that was rapidly and certainly drying up 1 1 1 « - springs 
of life; and I doubt not that the painful thought was in 
other minds, as it was in my own, that ere long we might 
be called upon to mourn his loss and pay customary trib- 
ute to his memory. Yet his intellectual nature triumphed 
against the visible progress of disease, and he spoke with 
unexcelled force and beauty, and with deep feeling, of his 
associate and friend. His words come back to us to-day 
as singularly due to himself: "The plainest truth is his 
highest eulogy." He would not offend the modesty of the 
dead by words of boastful praise. 

For himself, also, he seemed in the supreme moment 
impressed with the sentiment of that mournful elegy which 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF ORRIS S. FERRY. 13 

shows the emptiness of fame, the monotonous level of the 
grave : 

Cau bouor's voice provoke the silent dust t 
Or flattery sootbe the dull, cold ear of death? 

From such thoughts came his dying request that no 
eulogistic sermon be preached at his grave. The spirit 
of that request restrains me in what I may say to-day. 
But it would belittle the truth not to say that we who 
knew him well know that he was distinguished for eminent 
ability and zeal in the public service; that his mind was 
clear, sharp, and flexible as a Damascus blade. His sense 
of duty brought him daily to this Chamber and to the 
committee-room when the excuse for absence, of inex- 
tinguishable pain, was ready and obvious. 

Our friend was fortunate in his reputation. A man's 
character is built solely by himself. He constructs it 
piece by piece, to deformity or symmetry. It cannot be 
created or destroyed by another. But reputations are the 
sport of circumstance, or the prey of malice ; often be- 
yond the control of the possessor, and as often fictitious 
and unjust. Sometimes, as with the persecuted Galileo, 
this is the fault of the age ; sometimes, as with blind and 
despised Milton, it is the license of party. Happy is the 
wise and good against whom the mob has never cried, 
"Crucify him! release to us Barabbas!" "• 

I only wish to add that from daily association with Mr. 
Ferry I learned to admire the rectitude visible in all his 
words and actions — a rectitude that seemed to spring not 
merely from a heart well guarded by conscience, but from 



14 ADDRESS OF ME. SAEGENT ON THE 

an even poise of intellect, which could not incline to 
temptation or stoop to wrong. 

The impressions left here by his daily walk and con- 
versation were familiar to his friends and constituents at 
home. I listened to the simple statement of his virtues, 
of his Christian faith and works, by his pastor, who spoke 
to his neighbors as the cold form of the dead Senator 
rested at the altar of the little church at Norwalk, and 
heard the same testimony which we can all bear — that 
he was conscientious, just, upright. 

Such men, whatever their party associations, elevate 
the public service. Their influence is good, not only in 
the traces they may leave in wholesome statutes, but in 
the higher respect of the people for free institutions chal- 
lenged by their conspicuous integrity. 



LTFE AND CHARACTER OP ORRIS S. FERRY. 15 



Address of Mr. Bayard, of Delaware. 

Mr. President, I have a sad satisfaction in yielding my 
tribute of sincere respect to the character and memory 
of our late associate, Mr. Ferry, of Connecticut, whose 
career has been so ably and well stated by his colleague, 
[Mr. Eaton.] 

There never was any personal intimacy between us, 
and our views as td party never brought us into that 
sympathy which is begotten of a common endeavor for 
political ends. 

Yet even in his life-time and amid the ardor of differing 
opinions, so often forcibly and positively expressed, as was 
his wont, I was always conscious, whether concurring in or 
dissenting from his views, that back of his utterances there 
shone the light of truthful intent, which caused a radiance 
to pervade everything he said. It was the sense of honest 
conviction, uncolored and undimmed by petty partisan or 
unjust considerations. 

The real strength and safety of this Government lies in 
the absolute freedom with which opinions may be formed 
and expressed, and to the independent and courageous 
utterances of its able and virtuous men the people may 
best look for guidance. 

This day our country needs men who will proclaim 



16 ADDRESS OF ME. BAYARD ON THE 

their real judgments; not those who, to adopt a phrase 
that fell unpleasantly on my ear not long - since in this 
Chamber, "follow, in order to lead." One who loved 
England described her as — 

A laud where, j;irt by friends or foes, 
A man may speak the tiling he will. 

For when this shall not be, true manliness and honest 
public service will have departed, and time-serving have 
taken their place. 

The Senator whose death we so justly mourn possessed 
the qualities which can create and preserve a free govern- 
ment of laws. 

He had a mind of excellent natural powers, well matured, 
and enlightened by study of the laws, both in their enact- 
ment and practical administration. 

He had experience of men living under the orderly 
regime of law, and also under the less defined control of 
military rule in time of war. 

So fitted by events, he came into this council chamber 
of the States of the Union somewhat heated, perhaps, upon 
his first entry by the scenes of warfare in which he had just 
been engaged, and in which, as a soldier, he had borne a 
brave, conscientious, and distinguished part. But, from 
the first, 1 well remember how instinctively he recoiled 
from unworthy or improper schemes, how unerringly he 
probed and detected fraud, and unsparingly denounced 
dishonesty ami corruption, wherever and whenever found, 
with a generous indignation. 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF ORRIS S. FERRY. 17 

He lived a life of quiet self-respect. No busy seeker 
he of men's praises; no dexterous manager of party forces; 
no scatterer of ambiguous voices in the market-place. 

It was because he was a true friend to popular institu- 
tions that he despised and shunned the arts of the dema- 
gogue ; much less did he stoop to gather personal or party 
advantage in the flames of discord among his countrymen. 
Thus I believe he was fit to rule men and to execute the 
great trusts of political power. 

I could produce abundant extracts from his speeches in 
this Chamber where his censure of what he deemed cor- 
rupt, dishonest, and unworthy was unhesitating and un- 
sparing. And he never permitted the garb of party to 
shelter a guilty man from his just denunciation. For six 
years we served together upon the Committee on Private 
Land-Claims, where cases involving the title or possession 
of extensive and valuable bodies of land came frequently 
before us. His intelligence, acumen, and fine legal and 
judicial abilities were in this way made known to me; and 
reports of important cases, comprehending questions of 
law and fact of a complicated nature, where lapse of time 
and fraud had combined to obscure truth and justice, were 
made by him and are on the files of the Senate, in which 
his vigorous and instinctively honest mind dissolved all 
doubts and arrayed the merits of the case in clear and 
orderly precision. The condition of physical health in 
which for years he performed his duties here must have 
touched and saddened us all; yet complaint was never 



18 ADDRESS OP ME. BAYARD ON THE 

heard from his lips, and he would force his weak body to 
its work with a vigor and courage that it is not extravagant 
to call heroic. To know him was to respect him. His 
life here has ended, but not I trust its influences upon 
those who survive and shall succeed him. 

"Well may we mouru him ; 
Well may we imitate his virtues." 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF ORRIS S. FERRY. 19 



Address of Mr. Howe, of Wisconsin. 

Mr. President, I had not realized how peculiar and 
unique my relations with the late Senator Ferry had been 
until I sat down to consider what might be proper for me 
to say at his official funeral. I knew him first only when 
he entered the Senate; and I scarcely knew him anywhere 
else than in the Senate. 

During his whole term of service here I was his cola- 
borer; but I rarely saw him out of this Chamber. He 
never repelled me and was not at all repellant to me. I 
felt for him not only entire respect, but also great admira- 
tion; and therefore I was surprised to find upon reflection 
that I had never known him but in an official way and in 
his public character. During the whole time we worked 
together I never received from or made to him, so far as I 
remember, anything like a confidential communication. 
Nothing like a whispered or a side remark ever passed 
between us. I rarely ever spoke to him or heard him 
speak upon other than public affairs. And when for an 
occasional moment he turned to the discussion of private 
interests, his wont was to discuss them in official style. 
If I asked after his health, or for the news of the day, his 
habit was to answer with the same fidelity to fact and the 



20 ADDRESS OF MR. HOWE ON THE 

same accuracy of statement lie would have employed in 
communicating with his physician or with a reporter for 
the Associated Press. 

Once I ventured to applaud some unusually forcible 
and fervid remarks he made in the Senate. He answered 
me with a laugh, as little encouraging to my enthusiasm 
as if the splendid bronze charger on which sits Brown's 
statue of Scott should whinny when the admiring specta- 
tor claps his hands at the triumph of the artist. So 1 do 
not feel that I ever knew Mr. Ferry in any other charac- 
ter than that of a Senator. If indeed he had a life distinct 
or different from his public one, I was a stranger to it. 
My conclusion is that when he put on the senatorial robes 
he put them on for steady wear ; that his purpose was to 
carry the proprieties of his great office constantlv with 
him ; not to be oppressed by them, still less to oppress 
any one by them, but to attract by and instruct with them 
everywhere and always. 

I need not speak in this presence of the clearness or the 
vigor of his intellect. This Chamber, instructed by the 
loftiest utterances in our language, has witnessed too many 
evidences of both to make any mention of either profitable. 

But more than most men he was sincere and earnest. 
( )thers have exhibited on special occasions and in pursuit 
of special ends more zeal than he was accustomed to be- 
tray, but few men of my acquaintance have seemed to 
burn with an ardor so constant and sustained as that 
which inspired him. 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF ORRIS S. FERRY. 21 

Two traits in his character deserve particular mention : 
his independence of thought and his fidelity to conviction. 

He thought for himself and formed his own conclu- 
sions. He listened to the reasoning of others, but he was 
guided by his own. He was not likely to be the idol of a 
party, for he could not abjectly follow one. But he was 
not for that reason the more unsafe to lead a party, since 
he was sure to lead by the best light he had. 

Perhaps less than others he realized the importance of 
organization to political achievement. Perhaps more 
than others he felt the importance of impressing individual 
opinion upon the public mind. Whatever might have 
been the cause, he seemed as prompt and resolute to 
attack what he deemed error in the party to which he 
belonged as in that to which he was opposed. At times, 
indeed, he appeared even more uncompromising toward 
his political associates than toward his political adver- 
saries. There are those in the world still who hold that 
" unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much 
required," and who are more intolerant of fault in their 
friends than in strangers. 

Something must be pardoned to the exigencies of party 
as to the spirit of liberty. It is not wise to destroy a 
great party, freighted with precious hopes and struggling 
to noble ends, because it occasionally stumbles or for a 
moment seems to falter on its way. It is not wise to 
silence a great teacher, in whose light a generation has 
walked and the human race has visibly grown, because 



ADDRESS OF Mil. IIOWE ON THE 



of a single fault, whether imputed or real. It is not wise 
to drag the moon from the planetary system because there 
are a few spots on it, Of course, when the moon 
crumbles into ashes, and so flings dust and not light upon 
the beholder, it might as well be shoveled out of the 
system. When the teacher slips all the cables which 
moor him to truth, close reefs the hopes which waft him 
heavenward, and drifts out listless and rudderless upon 
the sea of unbelief, helplessly buffeted by all its waves 
and hopelessly clapboarded by all its barnacles, the sooner 
he goes to pieces the better. And when a party has sold 
itself to do evil, has coiled itself on the path of human 
progress; when it no longer seeks to give nurse to but 
rather to nurse upon its country, all good men should 
abandon it and unite to take it to pieces. 

It is not easy always to discover the precise point where 
the paths of the partisan and of the patriot diverge. In 
every era men have been seen to desert the banners of 
party before the point of divergence was reached, and 
men have been seen to follow them long after that point 
was passed. 

Undoubtedly good husbandry will seek to garner up 
all the wheat ; and good husbandly will bum the chaff. 
But some are so eager of grain they will continue to rake 
over the straw long after the wheat is all out ; and some 
are so impatient of chaff they will kindle the fires in it 
while it is yet heavy with the bread of life. 

The late Senator from Connecticut, however, never set 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF ORRIS S. FERRY. 23 

fire to unthrashed harvests. He did not always keep 
even step with the party in which he trained, but he 
never deserted it. Occasionally perhaps by ill-timed 
contentions he obstructed its progress, but I think he 
never meant to imperil its final triumph. I did not 
always agree to the correctness of his conclusions, but 
I never for a moment doubted the sincerity of them. 

And the fidelity with which he adhered to his con- 
victions and the courage with which he asserted them 
was an instruction to us all and deserved all praise. 
Where he went, belief and affirmation walked hand in 
hand. He seemed absolutely exempt from all physical 
and all moral tremors such as are born of fear. On the 
field and in the forum he flung himself into the encounter 
with equal readiness. 

Within an hour after his State had offered him a regi- 
ment to lead to battle he accepted the solemn trust. We 
have seen him enter upon an engagement here with even 
less deliberation. Day after day he sat here racked with 
physical pains, but no moan escaped him. His body was 
enfeebled by disease, but his spirit never languished. 

Wherever his sense of duty pointed the way, there he 
was sure to tread. By him adversaries were uncounted 
and results were uncalculated. His lips never expressed 
it, but his manner seemed to say with the young Prince 
of Tyre— 

Like a bold champion, I assume tbe lists, 
Nor ask advice of any other thought 
Hut faithfulness and courage. 



24 ADDRESS OF MR. FRELINCinUYSEN ON THE 



Address of Mr. Frelinghuysen, of New Jersey. 

Mr. President, change is written on everything witli which 
we are familiar. The spring, the summer, the golden 
autumn, and the icy winter chase each other, and while 
we recognize the one it is gone. The forest is no sooner 
clothed in its luxuriant foliage than it begins to disrobe, 
and presently its bare poles stand up againt the sky. The 
creations of human industry and genius, whether of king- 
dom or code, of monument or picture, crumble away 
before this universal law. These changes are fraught 
with instruction, and remind us that we shall not long 
continue as we now are. But it is when the stern mes- 
senger calls away a companion distinguished for his 
genius and his eloquence, his purity, and his Christian 
faith that we learn the most impressive of moral lessons. 

The average age of the members of this body is per- 
haps fifty years. In that past period a thousand, yes, 
nearer two thousand, millions of sentient beings such as 
we, capable of indefinite if not of infinite moral and 
intellectual development, have appeared upon the stage 
of time, there rejoiced and emulated, suffered and striven, 
and have then departed forever; their entry ami exit 
being alike mysterious. 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF ORRIS S. FERRY. 



Brief as has been their visit to earth, it has been long 
enough to effect several demonstrations : 

It has proven that there is a spiritual as well as a mate- 
rial existence ; for they were all conscious of being, and 
they were all recognized as being, in their personality, 
spiritual. 

It has proven that they were moral intelligences, for no 
matter how enfeebled by want or how degraded by bad 
associations, there never was one of that mighty host, 
with every selfish inducement to decide in his own favor, 
who has not condemned and blamed himself for every 
wrong he committed. 

It has proven, by the acquisitions those intelligences 
have made in languages and laws, in philosophy and art, 
that they are capable of perpetual progression. 

It has proven that they were not the results of natural 
causes, for they have seized upon nature and made it sub- 
servient to their pleasure. The very elements have been 
subjected to their service ; its obstacles, such as oceans 
and space, storms and lightnings, have been overcome and 
conquered. 

Our race stands out the supernatural by an irrefraga- 
ble logic. If this be not true, why admire the heroism of 
the martyr dying for his faith more than the fire that con- 
sumes him ? Why render more homage to the patriot 
soldier who dies in front of the line than to the steed 
which spur and bridle have forced to the danger? Why 
more gratitude to a friendship that is true amid tempta- 



2G ADDRESS OF MR. FRELINGIIUYSEN ON THE 

tions to betray than to the steady current of the river that 
makes its way over rocks and precipices ? It is man as a 
positive force superior to nature that we admire. 

In him we to-day lament the intellectual and moral was 
in a marked degree predominant. His physical infirmities 
seemed to augment that supremacy. In the prime of life, 
shattered by disease, he resolutely and firmly adjusted 
himself to the situation. We have seen him standing 
there, advocating those measures he believed best for his 
country, while his countenance was distorted from pain. 
His spirit firmly held the mastery over physical forces. 
They could not cany the citadel of his soul. 

He had, too, marked independence of character and 
thought, and possessed the concomitant virtue of courage. 
He was satisfied of his ability by investigation to arrive 
at a sound conclusion. He knew that his motives were 
pure and honest, and when his opinions were formed he 
was not to be swerved from them. Though not indiffer- 
ent to popular opinion, as no sound mind is, he had much 
of the spirit of that old hero who said, "Were there as 
many devils in Worms as roof-tiles, I would on." 

I did not always think him right, but I always felt 
re-assured where I found myself voting as he voted. 

He was a man of good education and attainments. He 
had not high culture; few men have. High culture is 
not essential to excellence or usefulness; if it were, our 
republican institutions, State and national, would be in a 
sad condition. His education was sufficient to have de- 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF ORRIS S. FERRY. 27 



veloped his native powers and to render him conscious of 
his strength, so that he went fearlessly and successfully 
forward as a leader in life's duties. 

Mr. Ferry's reasoning powers were of a superior order, 
and were habitually fortified by careful reflection on the 
subject he would present. He seized the strong point of 
the question under investigation and wielded it with great 
power. In presenting his views he was direct, plain, and 
logical, and in that he impressed his hearers with the 
strength of his own convictions, so that they sympathized 
with him ; he was eloquent. 

When that terrible calamity, the record of which is 
found in thousands of desolate homes, overtook our coun- 
try, his patriotism shone forth. A Representative of the 
nation, he became a patrol to guard its capital; and after- 
ward, at the head of the Fifth Connecticut Cavalry, 
bravely participated in its battles. But his patriotism was 
not sectional ; it was not a narrow sentiment, confined to 
any locality. He fought to preserve here for all his 
country that civil liberty which, while the greatest of 
blessings, is conferred upon only a few spots of earth. 
He believed that he was contending for the right. I do 
not say he would not say that many of those with whom 
he contended did not, from their stand-point, think they 
were right. But this is true : when everywhere in this 
free Republic law shall be supreme, the rights of property 
and person secure, and constitutional political equality 
exercised and protected, then, when civil liberty is thus 



28 ADDRESS OF ME. FEELINGHUYSEN ON THE 

established, and we rejoice in the prosperity, peace, and 
virtue that flow from it, all will remember past differences 
only to be the more grateful that we are again friends. 

It was the crowning glory of our friend that he was a 
Christian. Conscious of a spiritual malady which human 
culture or educational development could not cure, he 
sought and found for a disease to the supernatural a 
supernatural remedy. 

He has gone from us forever. Whither has he gone ? 
All of him that is mortal quietly reposes in the soil of the 
gallant State that delighted to honor him. His memory 
is embalmed in the hearts of many loving countrymen, 
and his spirit has returned to the bosom of his Father. 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF ORRIS S. FERRY. 29 



Address of Mr. Thurman, of Ohio. 

Mr. President, I have a few very sincere words to say 
of our deceased brother — words of sincere admiration of 
his character. That he was a man of intellect all who 
knew him will bear witness ; that he was a speaker of sin- 
gular perspicuity and force all who ever heard him can 
testify; that his mind was cultivated, his manners refined, 
his bearing dignified, simple, and wholly free from osten- 
tation, is known to us all. But to me, as no doubt to 
others, the great trait of his character was its broad, en- 
lightened, and fearless independence. He was one of that 
class of men — too limited in every land and in every age — 
who think for themselves and dare to say what they think. 
Paying due regard to the opinions of others and always 
willing to receive instruction, he nevertheless was careful 
to assert his brain and manhood by ultimately deciding 
for himself. And he had a breadth and grasp of mind, a 
magnanimity of soul, and a sense of justice that ever 
inclined him to measures of moderation and kindness ; 
and in such measures his reason, his learning, and his feel- 
ings found the truest statesmanship. I might give not a 
few illustrations of these characteristics from the records 



30 ADDRESS OF MR. THURMAN ON THE 

and debates of the Senate, but this is not an occasion to 
speak of matters that have not yet passed out of the 
region of controversy. Time, in my opinion, will vindi- 
cate the soundness of his judgment. His honesty of pur- 
pose needs no vindication, for no one was ever found to 
question that 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OP ORRIS S. FERRY. 31 



Address of Mr. Wadleigh, of New Hampshire. 

Mr. President, I first met the late Senator Ferry in 
1873, when I took a seat in this Chamber. He was then 
suffering from the disease which condemned him to partial 
seclusion and finally ended his life. I was not without 
prejudice against him, and should never have known him 
intimately had I not been associated with him upon the 
committee of which he was chairman. Thus brought 
into social relations with him my prejudice vanished, and 
I soon learned to admire the clearness and strength of his 
intellect and the purity and beauty of his character. Our 
acquaintance, on my part at least, grew into warm friend- 
ship, to which I should do violence were I to constrain 
myself to silence on this occasion. 

The events of his life have been so fully traced by his 
colleague that I will only glance at them. Born in 
Connecticut, and always residing in his native county of 
Fairfield, his honors must have been doubly dear as coming 
from those who had known him from childhood. In 
youth he wrought in his father's manufactory, where he 
acquired a practical knowledge, which he sometimes 
unexpectedly exhibited to the discomfiture of those who 
assumed his want of it. 



SZ ADDRESS OF ME. WADLEIGH ON THE 

He graduated at Yale College, the alma mater of so 
many distinguished Americans, and chose the legal 
profession. We who knew him here cannot doubt that 
he deserved and won professional distinction, especially 
as an advocate. His strong common sense, his earnest- 
ness, horn of intense convictions, his inborn and irrepres- 
sible love of right and justice, his contempt and hatred 
for meanness and wrong, and the mingled logic and 
feeling which animated his speech must have won the 
minds and the hearts of the clear-headed, strong- 
minded men who generally compose the juries of New 
England. 

After two years of faithful service in the Connecticut 
Senate and three years' performance of the duties of 
prosecuting attorney in the county of Fairfield, he was, 
in April, 1859, elected to the national House of Repre- 
sentatives, where he served till March, 1861. In the 
midst of all-pervading treason which seemed to forbode 
the sure downfall of the Republic, his unselfish patriotism 
led him to enlist and serve as a private soldier in a 
company raised to defend the National Capital from the 
foes that menaced it from within and without. In the 
great struggle which preserved national unity and free 
institutions to our people he took no uncertain nor 
wavering part. His patriotism and his humanity alike 
condemned a rebellion which would have divided our 
country into independent and hostile States, without peace 
at home or power abroad, and which would have erected 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF ORRIS S. FERRY. 



33 



upon the rains of American freedom a government with 
human slavery for its corner-stone. 

Having been appointed by Governor Buckingham to 
the command of the Fifth Connecticut Regiment he 
obtained by arduous study a knowledge of military 
affairs, and with his regiment did faithful and honorable 
service. Commissioned brigadier-general in 1862, he 
served with gallantry till the end of the war, when he 
resumed the practice of his profession at Norwalk. In 
1867 he was elected to this Senate, and re-elected in 
1872. His last public effort in this Chamber was to pro- 
nounce a true and beautiful eulogy upon his friend and 
colleague, Senator Buckingham. Much in that eulogy 
might be applied to the lamented Ferry himself. In it 
he seemed to be sounding his own requiem. The sorrowful 
task of preparing it almost overcame him. and admonished 
him that his own hold en life was rapidly breaking and 
that his feet were even then pressing the shore of that 
dark river over which his friend had passed to the unseen 
world. In vain he sought relief from medicine; it had 
no shield against the stroke of death. The dying Vice- 
President sent to him a message of love which never 
reached him. They died within a few hours of each 
other — loved, trusted, and mourned. 

In the character of Senator Ferry it seems to me there 
was almost everything to admire and almost nothing to 
condemn. 

His intellect was clear, powerful, and logical. Few 



34 ADDEESS OF JIK. WADLEIGH ON THE 

better speeches than his can be found in the records of 
American eloquence. Terse, vigorous, and full of fiery 
force, they were delivered with an earnestness of manner 
which gave them wonderful effect. His hearers felt that 
before them was a man who believed what he said, and 
who said it because he believed it. When warmed in 
debate his impulsive energy seemed to triumph over the 
cruel disease which, like the vulture of Prometheus, was 
gnawing his vitals. Yet, with all his mental strength, he 
had the ardent generosity and captivating frankness of 
youth and a feminine kindness of heart. The poor, the 
oppressed, the unhappy multitude whose lives are dark- 
ened by want, had never a friend whose heart beat for 
them with stronger sympathy. His love of right, of 
justice, of what Anglo-Saxons call "fair play," amounted 
to a passion. Yet he never stooped to flatter or amuse 
the people to whose welfare he devoted himself, llis 
public addresses never appealed to the baser passions, but 
only to the sentiments of justice and duty in the hearts 
of his hearers, and to their judgment and reason. He 
was a patriot without being a demagogue. 

He was by nature a man of unyielding courage, and in 
his later years his fear of God shut his heart against all 
other tear. He had the courage to be true to his convic- 
tions always and everywhere. No unpopularity of a cause 
could prevent his warmly espousing it. His independence 
of tin night sometimes led to breaches of party discipline 
which would have been fatal to men of less purity, but 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF ORRIS S. FERRY. 35 

which never lost him the confidence of those who knew 
him. They knew that no selfish, dishonest motive could 
influence him. His character shielded him even against 
suspicion. They felt that modern degeneracy had not 
reached him; that, though poor, he could not be swayed 
by all "the gold of Ormus and of Ind." Their faith in 
him was well-founded. His feet were firnily planted on 
that eternal rock where stood in other days the martyrs 
who endured poverty, scorn, insult, torture, and death 
rather than disobey the whispers of conscience — that 
"still small voice" too often unheeded by men in high 
places. Yet he made no parade of his religion ; it was 
concealed rather than ostentatiously displayed, and con- 
sisted in acts rather than in words. When some glaring 
examples of hypocrisy brought contumely upon the re- 
ligious professions of statesmen, the pure, noble, honest 
life of Ferry did much to redeem genuine Christianity 
from reproach. 

He once said to me that he tried to live as though the 
next moment would usher him to the bar of the Eternal 
Judge. To a man who thus lives, seeing continually the 
white throne of Omnipotence with the children of earth 
thronging to it for judgment, nothing is harder than to do 
wrong, and to him death is but the door to immortality. 
Though he leaves here no earthly riches, he leaves 
what is better — a stainless name and an example for 
emulation. 

When we look upon such a life and such a death, when 



36 ADDRESS OF ME. WADLE1GU ON THE 

we reflect how often of late the pale king of terrors has 
invaded this Chamber, and how soon we may receive his 
dread summons, shall we not be incited to the more 
faithful performance of our duties — duties involving the 
welfare of many millions of our fellow-men, which we 
owe to them, to our country, and to God? 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF ORRIS S. FERRY. 37 



Address of Mr. English, of Connecticut. 

Mr. President, one year ago last Saturday Mr. Ferry 
rose in his seat in this Chamber, in the performance of 
what he said was to him the saddest duty of his public 
life, to announce to the Senate the death of his colleague 
on this floor. On the 27th day of the same month he 
delivered in the Senate a eulogy on the life and character 
of Governor Buckingham which made a deep impression 
on the Senate and country at that time. It was his last 
public effort in the Senate. He returned to his family and 
home in Norwalk, where he died on the 23d daj r of 
November last. 

By the dispensation of Providence, the State of Connec- 
ticut has lost by death not only two Senators, but quite 
recently one of her senior members in the House of 
Representatives, making, in all, one-half of her entire 
delegation in Congress, and all within the brief space of 
less than one year. It is but seldom that a State is called 
upon to endure such a triple affliction as her citizens 
mourn to-day. 

Such, Mr. President, is the uncertainty of human life, 
and it admonishes us all to heed the divine admonition, 
"Be ye also ready." 



38 ADDRESS OF MB. ENGLISH ON THE 

To-day the Senate testifies its respect for the memory 
of Mr. Ferry. 

Mr. President, while I had not the honor of serving with 
Mr. Ferry as a member of this distinguished body, it was 
my good fortune to know him long and to know him 
well. From my earliest acquaintance I had learned to 
respect him, not only for his superior abilities, but as a 
man of noble impulses and great purity of character. 

Born among the hills of Connecticut, where he derived 
his first educational advantages in the public schools, and 
where he learned to earn his bread by the sweat of his 
brow ; apprenticed at an early age, in his native town of 
Bethel, to his father, a prominent manufacturer of hats in 
that town ; while thus engaged, he exhibited such a taste 
for books and knowledge as to induce his father to send 
him to Yale College, whence he was graduated in 1844. 
Of his class, Governor Haight, of California, and Governor 
and Senator Washburn, of Massachusetts, became the most 
prominent in political life. While in college he was not 
distinguished as a scholar, but as a writer and debater 
he was conspicuous and of great promise. He was 
thoroughly independent, and gave evidence of a noble 
and strong character. 

His professional, military, and political life has been so 
ably presented by my distinguished colleague as to leave 
little or nothing more to be said upon these heads. 

His speeches in the Senate were marked by great 
clearness of expression and force of utterance, and 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF ORRIS S. FERRY. 39 

always commanded attention. He was in the best sense 
an eloquent man, because he spoke his convictions of 
duty, and had opinions, solid and strong, of his own. He 
dared to differ from his party and be true to his individual 
convictions, to his sense of duty, to his country, and to 
his God. 

His recent efforts in this Chamber, in support of what 
he believed to be for the best interests of the country, are 
so fresh in the minds of the people as to make it unneces- 
sary for me to recur to them. 

During his whole public service, and often in situations 
in which bribes or gifts might have been accepted, such 
was his sterling integrity he was placed beyond the reach 
of temptation. As a Senator he had a clear conception 
not only of the duties but the responsibilities of the posi- 
tion, and was fearless in the discharge of those duties. 
When he spoke, he spoke as a statesman, and not as a 
politician ; for politician he never was, nor could he be, 
certainly not in that sense that makes politics a profession, 
whereby offices of honor or profit may be obtained. Nor 
was he in any sense an office-seeker. He would neither 
seek nor ask for any office of honor or profit, nor did he 
crave any. But, on the contrary, had he been governed 
by his own impressions, regardless of the opinions of 
others, he would have continued in the practice of his 
much-loved profession, and which would have been greatly 
to his pecuniary advantage. But from a sense of duty he 
accepted the high and honorable position to which he was 



40 ADDRESS OF MR. ENGLISH ON THE 

elected by his fellow-citizens, having but one object in 
view, to discharge the duties of the same in such a 
manner as would conduce to the best good of his State 
and country. 

Mr. Ferry, from disease and bodily infirmity, had been 
a very great sufferer for several years, which would have 
completely discouraged a less determined man; but he 
struggled on, and by his indomitable will continued in 
the discharge of the duties of his office of Senator up to 
the close of the last session. But, as time rolled on, his 
physical vigor became paralyzed. Suffering bodily pain 
and agony, with the fact of approaching death before 
him, he still continued faithfully to discharge every duty, 
until at last his physical strength gave way; but his mental 
power held out until the end. 

It may not, Mr. President, be inappropriate for me to 
allude to the Christian character of Mr. Ferry, and the 
esteem with which he was held at home among his friends 
and fellow-citizens. He was a man of an emotional na- 
ture and instinctive reverence for spiritual truth. In his 
decided religious impressions he showed great energy of 
mind and independence of character. His political life 
had given him a rapid growth of reputation for intellect 
and capacity. At home, among his fellow-citizens, he hail 
obtained great influence, not only as a public man, but in 
the church, of which he was a devoted member as well. 
He taught a Bible- class, and out of lus efforts to do good 
to his charge he prepared a course of lectures in support 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF ORRIS S. FERRY. 41 

of the divine origin of Christianity, which was numerously 
attended and produced a profound impression. 

Struggling against infirmity, which sapped the springs 
of life, he held on bravely to the end, sustained by a noble 
ardor and indomitable pluck, by his Christian faith and 
heroism, and died the death of a Christian patriot, deeply 
lamented by all of his friends an.d fellow-citizens. 

Mr. President, I beg leave to offer the following reso- 
lution: 

Itesolred, That, as an additional mark of respect for the memory of Mr. Ferky, 
the Senate do now adjourn. 

The resolution was agreed to unanimously ; and the 
Senate (at two o'clock and thirty-five minutes p. m.) 
adjourned. 






ANNOUNCEMENT. 



MESSAGE FROM THE SENATE. 



A message was received from the Senate, by Mr. Symp- 
son, one of its clerks, announcing the proceedings of that 
body on the death of Orris S. Ferry, late a Senator from 
Connecticut. 



DEATH OF THE LATE ORRIS S. FERRY. 

The Speaker. The Clerk will read the message just 
received from the Senate. 
The Clerk read as follows: 

In Sexate of the United States, February 8, 1876. 

Resolved, That as a mark of respect to the memory of Orris S. Ferry, late a 
Senator from Connecticut, the business of this body be now suspended, that his 
former associates may pay proper tribute to his public and private virtues. 

Resolved, That the Secretary communicate this resolution to the House of Rep- 
resentatives. 



ADDEE88E8. 



Address op Mr. Phelps, of Connecticut. 

Mr. Speaker, the sudden decease of rny colleague, [Mr. 
Starkweather,] who had the matter in charge, and the 
request of my remaining colleagues, have unexpectedly 
devolved upon me the duty of moving the adoption of 
the resolutions which have just been transmitted from the 
Senate, and of supporting them by such remarks appro- 
priate to the occasion as I may be able to make; and I 
regret that I have had neither the time nor opportunity 
to make a fitting preparation for the discharge of such a 
delicate and important duty. 

Senator Ferry was born at Bethel, in the State of Con- 
necticut, on the 15th day of August, 1823. A portion of 
his early years was spent in manual labor in the manu- 
factory of his father, but he soon developed such a desire 
for knowledge and such uncommon indications of intellec- 
tual superiority that he laid aside the implements of a 
trade he was rapidly acquiring, and, at the age of fourteen 
years, entered upon the necessary studies preparatory to 



48 ADDRESS OF MR. PHELPS ON THE 

admission in Yale College, from which he was graduated 
at the age of twenty-one. His collegiate career was bril- 
liant, and the high distinction which he afterward attained 
was clearly foreshadowed at his graduation. He had a 
peculiar fondness as well as a special aptness for forensic 
effort, which naturally led him to adopt the profession of 
the law, and, as a student in the offices and under the 
personal instruction of two of the most eminent jurists of 
his native State, he mastered with great facility the intri- 
cate science of jurisprudence. He was admitted to the 
bar in 1846, and immediately commenced a successful 
practice at Norwalk, Connecticut, which he a few years 
later allowed to be interrupted by his active participation 
in the earnest political contest which was then going on. 
He was at that time an ardent partisan, and was elected 
to the State senate in 1855 and again in 1856 as a mem- 
ber of the party then known as American. His parly was 
in the ascendency and his talents gave him a conspicuous 
position among its leaders. As a tactician he was saga- 
cious, and as a debater had all the weapons of logic at his 
command and wielded them with surprising power. He 
was independent in thought and positive in action. He 
shunned all artifice and indirection and fearlessly advo- 
cated what he believed to be right, and with equal bold- 
ness opposed and unsparingly denounced what he thought 
to be wrong. It w r ould have violated his nature to have 
been untrue to his honest convictions, and he was there- 
fore utterly uncompromising between right and wrong. 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF ORRIS S. FERRY. 49 

His fame as a local legislator gave him such prominence 
that he became a candidate of the republican party for 
Congress in 1857, but was then unsuccessful. He was 
again placed in nomination in 1859, and elected to the 
Thirty-sixth Congress, and in this intellectual arena of the 
nation, which was at that time tln-obbing with excitement 
and numbered among its prominent actors many of the 
most distinguished minds of the country, he acquitted 
himself with marked distinction. Among the important 
positions assigned to him in that Congress was a place on 
. the celebrated committee of thirty -three, which was organ- 
ized to consider the condition and relations of the seceded 
States 

Upon the breaking out of the late civil war, all the 
enthusiasm of his nature was aroused for the preservation 
of the Union, and he entered the Army as colonel of the 
Fifth Regiment of Connecticut Volunteers. On the 17th 
of March, 1862, he was commissioned a brigadier-general 
by President Lincoln, and served in that capacity in dif- 
ferent divisions of the Army until near the close of the 
war. 

In 1866 he was elected by the legislature of Connecti- 
cut to the Senate of the United States, and was re-elected 
in 1872. His last public effort there was to pronounce an 
eloquent tribute of respect and affection to the memory of 
his deceased colleague, Senator Buckingham. With what 
commanding ability he discharged his duty in that body 
I need not repeat. It is sufficient to say that by his emi- 



50 ADDRESS OF MR. PHELPS ON THE 

nent service he acquired a national reputation as an able, 
faithful, and conservative Senator, who loved his country 
more than he loved his party, and in his election honored 
his State more than it honored him. 

As a lawyer he possessed a remarkably clear, discrimi- 
nating legal mind, which thoroughly understood and in- 
telligently digested the principles of the common law. He 
was a conscientious adviser, laborious and careful in the 
preparation of his causes and skillful in their management, 
and before neither court or jury had many competitors 
who could meet him on more than equal terms. In his 
deportment he maintained the dignity of his profession 
and cherished its honor with true devotion. 

In the later years of his life he was the subject of 
strong religious convictions, and publicly and with his 
whole heart professed a belief in the fundamental doc- 
trines of the Christian religion, and made their practice a 
sincere and constant part of his daily life. 

He was a man of unbending integrity, and deeply im- 
bued with the true spirit of manhood. He scorned every- 
thing that was base and despised everything that was 
mean. Corruption never tarnished his honor. He had 
no itching palm for dishonestly-gotten gold, and was at 
all times above all suspicion of complicity in legislative 
jobs and subsidies. He received no compensation or 
emolument except what he was by law clearly entitled to 
take, and it is the noblest tribute that can be offered to 
his memory to say that lie entered the public service poor 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF ORRIS S. FERRY. 51 

and continued many years in the civil and military depart- 
ments of the Government, and, without extravagance in 
living, died in his senatorial robes as poor as he entered 
that service. 

He expired at his home on Sunday, the 21st day of 
November last, after a long and suffering illness. The 
best medical skill was unavailing to heal his malady and 
restore his health. The highest type of womanly excel- 
lence and devotion existed in his household, and their 
blessed ministrations, often more potent than the physi- 
cian's remedies, were, by those every way worthy his 
companionship, constantly and with cheerful fidelity 
exerted to the last. 

In his death the country has lost one of its purest and 
ablest statesmen ; the Commonwealth of Connecticut, 
which proudly reckons many distinguished sons among 
her jewels, the peer of the most gifted of them ; the legal 
profession one of its soundest counselors and most eloquent 
advocates ; the community in which he lived, an accom- 
plished Christian gentleman ; and his family such a hus- 
band and father as only such a husband could be to a 
loved and loving wife, and such a father to an affectionate 
and devoted daughter. 

It is said, sir, that death loves a shining mark. This 
cannot well be more strikingly exemplified than in the 
fact that since the adjournment of the last Congress we 
have lost an Ex-President, a Vice-President, and a Sen- 
ator of the United States and six members elected to this 



ADDKESS OF MR. PHELPS ON THE 



House. The State which I have the honor in part to 
represent has been especially bereaved. Within the short 
space of less than one year she has been deprived of two 
Senators : Buckingham, who had rendered most distin- 
guished service and been loved and honored as a State 
rarely loves and honors a son however eminent, whose 
decease gave expression to some of the most touching 
eulogies ever delivered in this Capitol ; and Ferry, no 
less worthy and distinguished, whose private virtues and 
public services we are now endeavoring to commemorate. 
Their fame belongs not alone to Connecticut, but to the 
country; but we cherish with a just State pride the fact that 
they were born and lived and are buried on our own soil. 
Their good names are indelibly engraved on the hearts of 
the people of the State, and their graves are shrines which 
virtue and patriotism and religion will forever venerate. 
She has also been deprived of a distinguished Represent- 
ative who has just been borne to his last resting-place in 
the bosom of her soil and in the presence of his mourning 
constituency. 

The event we are considering is but the reiteration of 
the solemn and oft-repeated lesson of mortality — another 
impressive reminder that "man walketh in a vain shadow." 
Public honors and high position furnish no exemption. 
The all-wise and almighty Power who decrees the man- 
date, and the messenger who executes it, respect no dis- 
tinctions of rank or condition. The mocker at human 
pride follows man into the high places of the land, and 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF ORRIS S. FERRY. 



53 



there, as well as in the lowliest, repeats to him the 
startling message, and the suddenness with which its 
utterance sometimes falls upon our ears cannot be more 
forcibly illustrated than by a recurrence to the fact that 
I am now addressing the House in the place of a lamented 
colleague who but a few days since was in the enjoyment 
of his accustomed health, and had prepared himself for 
and expected to perforin the duty, but has himself been 
called to his final rest. At the proper time in the course 
of these proceedings that voice from the dead, speaking in 
language much more beautiful and eloquent than any I 
can express, will be read as one of the addresses on this 
occasion. It will help to remind us that we are constantly 
living in the shadow of the grave, and, alas! too often 
allow ambition and covetousness and pride to conceal the 
shadow or drive it from our thoughts ; and to teach us 
that it will be true wisdom to pause in our career of 
worldliness, and remember there is something within our 
reach higher than earth's highest honors, which, if attained, 
will take away the sting of death and crown us with im- 
mortal life. In his last years Senator Ferry, trusting in 
the divine promise, earnestly and humbly sought that 
happy and exalted end. 

I offer the following resolutions : 

Resolved, That the House has received with profound sorrow the announce- 
ment of the death of Orris S. Ferry, late a Senator from the State of Con- 
necticut. 

Resolved, That as a mark of respect to the memory of Mr. Ferry the business 
of the House be now suspended, that proper trihutes may be paid to his public 
and private virtues. 



54 ADDRESS OF ME. SKELYE ON THE 



Address of Mr. Seelye, of Massachusetts. 

Mr. Speaker, I am quite certain that the relations of no 
other one here with Senator Ferry were the same as my 
own. The gentleman who has preceded me, and those 
who are to follow, as also those who listen, knew him only 
in the varied relations, public and social, of mature life, 
but he and I were boys together, sharing with one another 
the gladness of childhood and the aspirations and purposes 
and hopes of youth. From the little village where his 
father and mine were near neighbors and friends, and 
where he and I were playmates and schoolmates, there is 
no other Representative now here, and it is upon this 
account that I have been requested to say a few words 
respecting his early life. It was spent in Bethel, Connecti- 
cut, where he was born August 15, 1823. He was a 
restless, eager, daring boy, not fonder of work than boys 
usually are, but a leader in all boyish sports, from which 
no one of his companions was wont to go home with a 
dirtier face or with hair more tangled and clothes more 
torn than he. But exuberant as he was of life and vigor, 
he was neither rough nor rude nor coarse even as a boy. 
I never knew him, as he grew larger, to tyrannize over 
smaller boys, though I have often seen him show a smt 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF ORRIS S. FERRY. 



of chivalric adherence to the weaker side. Generous, 
high-minded, and a universal favorite, the boy was father 
of the man. 

In school he always had his lessons, though no one 
ever knew when or where or how he got them ; he was 
not early fond of study, but, if he ever worried his 
teachers by his restless inattention, he never wearied 
them by obliging them to repeat their instructions. 

If, however, not an early student, he was as a boy a 
great reader of books, especially in the line of poetry 
and history and romance, of which his father's library 
furnished the largest collection then in the village, and 
from whose stores he was as fond of bringing feasts for 
the fancy of his boyish friends as they were of feeding 
upon them. His earliest aspirations were for a literary 
life; and I doubt if he ever dreamed of his later achieve- 
ments in the Senate and the administration of public 
affairs. With unwonted freedom, even for a boy, he told 
his day-dreams, and the boys who heard them, and over 
whom his words could throw a spell like that felt by all 
who listened to him in his riper years, never doubted that 
they would all come true. 

But his lot was cast where other occupations than play 
or reveling in romances or building castles in the air 
were soon pressed upon him. In that little village there 
was no dolce far niente view of life. Everybody had 
something to do and was expected to do it. Hardly any 
vice seemed more repugnant to the busy workers there 



ADDRESS OF MR. SEELYE ON THE 



than idleness, and about the most condemning epithet 
among them which could be applied to man or woman 
was laziness or shiftlessness. There were no rich people 
there ; and had there been, I hardly see how they could have 
lived a life of leisure without being stung like drones by 
the busy bees around them. A child's world of fancy 
there soon found itself intersected by the hard world of 
fact, and Orris Ferry soon learned that the actual present 
had a work for him no less than the far-off future. While 
in the dreamy fancies of his childhood there might have 
been prefigured, had there only been the eye to see the 
picture, that far-reaching meditativeness in which "the 
heaven which lay about his infancy " still stretched before 
the vision of his later years, I think he owed also what- 
ever persistence of purpose and energy of work he after- 
ward revealed as much to these early conditions which 
surrounded him as to his original endowment. But the 
fearlessness with which he exercised his purpose, the 
courage of his convictions, the bravery with which he 
could throw aside all arbitrary domination and be a free- 
man and a hero, this was not dependent upon any circum- 
stances of his early life; this was his original possession, 
as conspicuously his in the earliest revealings of himself 
as in the latest, and would have been revealed as his 
wherever he had been born or however bred. 

lint there were other traits prominent in his later life 
which were, doubtless, partly due to his early surround- 
ings. The religious faith, which was the ever-brightening 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF ORRIS S. FERRY. 



57 



crown of his maturest years, was, I cannot but think, 
greatly aided by the associations of his childhood. In 
the center of the village where was his childhood's home 
— central alike in location and in the power it repre- 
sented — was the Congregational meeting-house, where 
the only church then in the place gathered with its con- 
gregation for public worship, and to which were drawn 
and from which dispersed the currents by which — as 
originally was the case in almost every New England 
town and village — the life of that community was directed 
and sustained. Hard workers as were the men and 
women there, sharp, too, at a bargain as they were, and 
eager to get gain, no one with much knowledge of them 
but would soon discover that in their thoughts and ques- 
tionings the next world had no less prominence than this. 
The warmest discussions ever held among them were 
on the highest themes of theology, discussions which, 
however wide their range, were always brought for settle- 
ment, in the last appeal, to Scripture and to common 
sense. It was quite natural that the children breathing 
such an air should early learn to talk about these things, 
and to think about them, also, for themselves, and quite 
to be expected, also, that one like Orris Ferry, always 
unwilling to have his thoughts constrained, and always 
unable to have them concealed, should in his freedom of 
inquiry find things where common sense and Scripture 
seemed to clash, and in his fearlessness of expression 
should declare this seeming contradiction without proviso. 



58 ADDRESS OF ME. SEELYE ON THE 

He early avowed his skepticism respecting all religious 
things, though he always had a certain seriousness of soul 
which never suffered him to be a scoffer. In later years, 
when by a further and profounder exercise of this same 
freedom of inquiry, he became a sincere believer — 
showing again that it is only the shallow draught at the 
fountain of free thought which intoxicates and the deep 
draught which sobers one again — it was not strange that 
the living faith with which his soul was penetrated should 
find its fitting expression and liveliest exercise in that form 
of doctrine and mode of conduct which, though for years 
repugnant to his convictions and his habits, were yet the 
earliest, as they were the latest and most intimate, asso- 
ciations of his life. 

I do not speak of him as a man, so affectionate, so 
truthful, so far-sighted, so courageous, with his command- 
ing presence and controlling speech; for as such he lias 
already been and is to be aptly portrayed by those who 
knew him only as a man. And I trust I shall be par- 
doned for dwelling at such length upon these thoughts of 
his boyhood, which make his memory very tender to me 
and which awaken a sense of personal loss beyond my 
power to express, as I think of the hopes we both had 
cherished of reviving here the intimacy of our boyhood, 
and of the expectation, which had been to me very bright 
and dear, that I might find from his superior wisdom and 
wider knowledge of public affairs a much-needed aid. 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF ORRIS S. FERRY. 



59 



Address of Mr. Garfield, of Ohio. 

I have never in this House performed a duty so sad 
and so sacred as that which is devolved upon me to-day. 
Two weeks ago last Friday our late beloved friend and 
associate, Hon. H. H. Starkweather, of Connecticut, 
came to my seat and urgently requested that I should 
address the House on the resolutions in reference to the 
death of Senator Ferry. After speaking with me for a 
few moments, he was called to the chair to preside and 
remained there perhaps half an horn-; but, not feeling well, 
he soon passed out, and never entered the Hall again. 

The very evening when he was stricken with his mortal 
disease he had completed, or very nearly completed, the 
remarks which he proposed to offer to the House on this 
occasion. I have not had the heart even to keep my 
promise to him. I could not think of this subject without 
being overwhelmed with the sense of the double loss; but 
I am sure the House will permit me, in place of any 
remarks of my own, to do what our departed friend can 
no longer do for himself, to read the speech as he left it. 
I have filled a few blanks and added here and there a 
word to supply the final revision which his own hand 
would have made; and thus the dead speaks for the dead 



GO ADDRESS OF MR, GARFIELD ON THE 

friend whom he soon followed. I read, and ask that it 
may go into the Record as his speech, the following 

REMARKS PREPARED BY THE LATE HON. H. H. STARKWEATHER. 

Mr. Speaker, since the adjournment of the last Congress, 
God in His sovereign wisdom has removed from the service 
of the nation Senator Orris S. Ferry, one of its distin- 
guished and trusted councilors. 

At any time the death of a Senator in the midst of his 
labors, so conspicuous for ability, for patriotism, and for 
a conscientious devotion to duty as was Mr. Ferry, is a 
great national loss. His departure from us, preceding 
but a few hours that of Vice-President Wilson, and fol- 
lowing so closely that of Senators Sumner and Buck- 
ingham, and others illustrious in the national councils, 
heightens and emphasizes the bereavement. The death 
of Mr. Ferry is a peculiar loss to the State that he served 
and honored, and whose memory she cherishes with an 
affectionate admiration. Throughout the Commonwealth, 
among the learned, the founders of our academies, uni- 
versities, in our common schools, among the ministers of 
religion, and the humble worshipers of God — along all its 
hills, in the Sunday-schools that he loved, among learned 
judges and eminent counselors, among the sons of toil 
for whom he spoke, among the good and the great, and 
in every cottage of the poor — there is^reat sadness. 

Twicewithin a few months death has invaded the sanc- 
tuary of our hearts, and taken from us our trusted public 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OP ORRIS S. FERRY. 



61 



servants and most honored citizens. No two men of this 
generation, among all the honored names of our common- 
wealth, could touch so many homes with a sense of per- 
sonal loss. While their work here is finished, there is 
left to us the reflection that for this life our present rela- 
tions are severed forever. 

"Around us each dissevered chain 
In sparkling ruin lies, 
And earthly hands can ne'er again 
Unite the hroken ties." 

Mr. Ferry was bom in the town of Bethel, in Fairfield 
County, on the 15th of August, 1823. His father, Stan- 
Ferry, was an enterprising business man of that town — a 
citizen known for his good sense, integrity, and social 
position in a community remarkable for its intelligence 
and culture. 

He was early apprenticed to his father's trade, and in 
after-life he had a just pride of his proficiency in his call- 
ing. An incident occurred at the last session of Congress 
that illustrates his character. As an advocate was explain- 
ing before the Committee on Patents the mysteries of a 
certain invention, he was sui-prised to learn that the chair- 
man of the committee had learned the art when a boy and 
was still in advance of the advocates and experts in the 
thoroughness of his knowledge of the subject. Early, 
however, the love of books and of study took possession 
of him and he left his trade to enter on a course of prep- 
aration for college. But of this the learned and distin- 
guished gentleman from Massachusetts, [Mr. Seelye,] the 



62 ADDRESS OP MR. GARFIELD ON THE 

companion of his boyhood, can more appropriately speak. 
In passing, it is sufficient to remark that as a boy he gave 
high promise of success. 

At the age of seventeen he entered Yale College, and 
here, says one well qualified to judge — 

His fine powers of mind soon found appreciative recognition, particularly in 
the department of literature and debate. He early became one of the editors 
of the Yale Literary Magazine ; was also a successful competitor for the Town- 
send literary prize ; and uniformly stood among the very highest in anything 
that required elaborate or extemporaneous address. His prestige thus gained 
in letters, together with his hearty social qualities, and his fine personal appear- 
ance, secured for him a marked popularity as well in circles without as within 
the college. 

He graduated in 1844 at the age of twenty-one, and 
after a year he entered the office of the late Chief- 
Justice Thomas B. Butler as a student at law, was soon 
admitted to the bar, and became his partner. 

Here his associations were most fortunate. Judge 
Butler was remarkable, not only for his legal learning, 
but for his varied acquirements, his love of justice, and 
his generous social qualities. Mr. Ferry's advent to the 
bar was in other respects fortunate in its surroundings. 
The bar of Fairfield County and the adjoining counties 
of New Haven and Litchfield at this time had many 
eminent lawyers. There were the venerable Charles 
Hawley, Roger Sherman Baldwin, the Ingersolls, Judges 
Butler, Seymour, Dutton — all learned in the mysteries of 
jurisprudence, the first two becoming chief-justices of our 
high court. Besides these there were a score of younger 
men, Minor, Beardsley, Loomis, White, Carter, Beach, 
Harrison, and others, near his own age, of rare ability. 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF ORRIS S. FERRY. 63 

At no time in our history has there been a greater array 
of talent at the bar than this. It is a sufficient commen- 
dation of Mr. Ferry, and not a little remarkable, that 
within a few years from his admission to the bar he placed 
himself at the head of his profession. 

Soon after his admission to the bar Mr. Ferry married 
the daughter of Governor Bissell, and the daughter and 
wife, in womanly virtues, in social culture, and in the 
sweet graces of charity and religion, is worthy of her 
illustrious father and husband. 

When yet a young man he was early honored at home. 
He was successively chosen judge of probate, State 
attorney, and State Senator. Each of these positions he 
filled well. 

It was my good fortune to be a member of the Legis- 
lature of Connecticut in 1856, and to be a member of the 
judiciary committee of which he was chairman. It was 
then often a subject of remark among men eminent at the 
bar that Mr. Ferry, (then but thirty-two,) not only as a 
debater, but a legislator, had the rarest ability, and at 
that early day he gave full promise of those great qualities 
which have for eight years past been the admiration of 
his colleagues in the Senate. He was then, as ever, brave, 
true, great. 

We are greatly indebted to Mr. Ferry for his public 
addresses before the people of our State. His logic and 
his eloquence were irresistible on these occasions. 

Mr. Ferry was elected to the Thirty-sixth Congress 



64 ADDRESS OP MR. GARFIELD ON THE 

from Connecticut and took his seat in this House in 1859 
amid the stirring scenes immediately preceding the 
rebellion. This body then embraced many men of 
marked character and ability. Here were the great 
leaders of the South, men schooled in politics and accus- 
tomed to rule ; and from the North came also many men 
of great ability, but mostly new to the public service. 

Mr. Ferry from the first took a conspicuous part in the 
discussions of the House, and was one of the committee 
of thirty-three appointed by the Speaker on "so much of 
the President's message as relates to the perilous condition 
of the country." Early in the debates he delivered a 
speech which was regarded by his associates as very able 
and effective, and expressing at that time the true position 
of its most thoughtful statesmen. His analysis of the 
state of the country at that trying epoch and his views of 
the duty of the Government now read like prophecy. 

At the close of his two years in the House he raised 
and commanded a regiment, and served in the Army with 
honor to the close of the war. His whole heart was in 
the work ; and he devoted his entire time and ability to 
its duties. When the war was over he resumed his pro- 
fession ; but the next year, 18GG, he was elected to the 
Senate and served a full term, and was re-elected in 1872. 

The public career of Mr. Ferry while in the Senate 
has been so faithfully delineated in the main by his 
distinguished associates that there is little need to recount 
them here; and, besides, I feci how inadequate are any 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF ORRIS S. FERRY. 65 

words of mine even to express my reverence and admi- 
ration. 

He entered the Senate at the commencement of the 
Fortieth Congress. Great questions, among them the 
problems of reconstruction, were on our hands; with 
these, new relations of the dominant and the late subject 
classes as they emerged from a state of war. 

I have seen it suggested by those who have failed fully 
to apprehend the position of Mr. Ferry that he was 
unduly conservative in his tendencies on questions of 
reconstruction. On the contrary, it can be said to his 
credit that on these measures he led the advance. His 
speeches in the Senate and in the conventions at home 
show that from the outset he maintained with masterly 
ability not only the right of the nation, but its duty to 
secure liberty, enfranchisement, and civil rights to those 
who had been slaves. It is true, in connection with 
many leading men of the party, he early favored a large 
amnesty to those who had been in rebellion against the 
Government. 

But in all his work in the Senate his noble utterances 
in regard to the power of the nation to suppress rebellion, 
his denunciations of secession, his appeal for justice for 
the slave, ally him indissolubly with the great republican 
leaders whose fame is immortal. 

It would be a pleasant service to quote from his 
speeches and rehearse his acts as proofs, if they were 
needed, of his fidelity to liberty and his faith in the in- 



9 



66 ADDRESS OF MR. GARFIELD ON THE 

destructibility of the Union. There are no nobler acts 
or utterances on record. But I must not detain the 
House longer with this sketch while others wait to unfold 
with better-chosen words his character and services. 

Before closing, however, let me refer to the crowning 
glory of his life. Mr. Ferry had a strong religious ele- 
ment in his character. This was with him a great con- 
trolling force, and not a sentiment. It added greatly to 
his strength and upheld him not only in great emergencies 
but in the daily labors of life. He loved to contemplate 
and discourse of the Infinite God and the glory of His 
reign. He dwelt with rapture on the majestic prophecies 
of Isaiah and the grand poems of the Hebrew minstrel 
king. His discourses on religion became a part of his 
beautiful life-work in his home. 

It was most beautiful and grand, amid failing strength 
and long years of pain, to hear him discourse of — 

" Rest at last, 
Repose complete, eternal ; 
Love, rest, and home." 

No cloud obscured the effulgence of his hope or 
dimmed his vision. Clear and high his intellect and his 
faith rose above all storms and darkness, and sustained 
him in sweet companionship amid the unrevealed mys- 
teries of pain. As his end drew near, he came back to 
his home, after a brief absence. There, under his own 
roof, with the angels of his household about him, he 
passed to his rest. 

Thinking of trials past, and knowing as we do how 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF ORRIS S. FERRY. 



well he had wrought for the future, trusting in the merits 
of his dear Lord, he could repeat the sweet lines of 



Bonar- 



Beyond the smiling and the weeping 

I shall be soon ; 
Beyond tbe waking and tbe sleeping, 
Beyond tbe sowing and the reaping, 
I shall be soon. 
Love, rest, and home ! 
Sweet home ! 
Lord, tarry not, but come. 

Beyond the blooming and tbe fading 

I shall be soon ; 
Beyond tbe shining and the shading, 
Beyond the hoping and the dreading, 
I shall be soon. 
Love, rest, and borne ! 
Sweet home ! 
Lord, tarry not, but come. 

Beyond the rising and the setting 

I shall be soon ; 
Beyond tbe calming and the fretting, 
Beyond remembering and forgetting, 
I shall be soon. 
Love, rest, and home! 
Sweet home ! 
Lord, tarry not, but come. 

Beyond the parting and the meeting 

I shall be soon ; 
Beyond the farewell and the greeting, 
Beyond the pulse's fever beating, 
I shall be soon. 
Love, rest, and home ! 
Sweet home ! 
Lord, tarry not, but come. 

Beyond the frost-chain and tbe fever 

I shall be soon ; 
Beyond the rock-waste and the river, 
Beyond the ever and the never, 
I shall be soon. 
Love, rest, and home ! 
Sweet home! 
Lord, tarry not, but come. 



08 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF ORRIS S. FERRY. 

Ay, the sweeter words of inspiration — in the volume of 
the book it is written, "Lo, I come quickly. Even so, 
come, Lord Jesus." 

The resolutions offered by Mr. Phelps were agreed to 
unanimously. 



m 



MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 



LIFE AND CHARACTER 



Orris S. Ferry, 

(A SENATOR FROM CONNECTICUT,) 



DELIVERED IN THE 



Senate and House of Repeesentatives, 



February 8, 1876. 



PUBLISHED BV ORDER OF CONGRESS. 



FORTY-FOURTH CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION. 
I 876. 



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